A graphic showing the number of fatal crashes in 2022, 2023 and YTD 2024.
Graphic via Ohio State Highway Patrol
New statistics from the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OHSP) revealed that fatal crashes were currently on track to fall below 2022 and 2023’s fatal crash numbers.
OSHP statistics, which were most recently updated on Sept. 16, 2024, reported that there had been three fatal crashes in Highland County in 2024 year-to-date. OSHP reported that all three of those crashes were Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence (OVI) related, which was already above 2023’s total for that specific factor, also tying the 2022 number.
According to the statistics, Highland County had six fatal crashes in 2023, with one of those being OVI-related and another being motorcycle-related. However, OSHP didn’t state whether those two crashes were related to one another. For 2022, OSHP said that there were five fatal crashes, with three of them being OVI-related.
2024 appears to be on track to fall below the prior two years, it is also significantly behind where it would be if it were to match the fatal crash statistics for 2021 and 2020 too.
Concerning 2021, four of the eight crashes were OVI-related and one of them were motorcycle-related, with OSHP not stating if any of those happened together. Then, in 2020, two of the crashes were urban-related, five were OVI-related and two were motorcycle-related. OSHP did not report on if any of those crashes happened at the same time.
For other 2024 stats, these specifically updated last on Sept. 23, 2024, two fatal crashes were OVI-related. OSHP also reported that there were two crashes with a serious injury suspect, 10 crashes with a minor injury reported and 26 OVI arrests.
OSHP has also reported statistics comparing some 2024 numbers to 2023 year-to-date (YTD), with the statistics last updated on Oct. 6, 2024.
Some statistics are up from 2023, such as enforcement stops up to 1,520 compared to the 1,001 of last year, seatbelt enforcement up from 124 last year to 210 this year and distracted driving violations up to 50 instances compared to last year’s 34.
However, there were also some statistics that were down from 2023. Those include, but aren’t limited to, commercial vehicle enforcement being down from 25 in 2023 to 19 in 2024, issued misdemeanor summons from eight in 2023 to five in 2024 and weapon violations down from two instances in 2023 to one in 2024.
Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.
